The Land of the Winanishe 



ward the long curve of yellow sand, banded 

 red and black with beds of iron ore rich 

 in garnets, ends in the low blue bluffs and 

 rocky islets that guard the mouths of the 

 Decharges, and is backed by the wooded 

 ridge between the lake and the Saguenay, 

 over which rise the distant peaks that bor- 

 der the Shipshaw. 



The houses differ little from the ordi- 

 nary French-Canadian farmhouses of other 

 sparsely settled districts. Built of squared 

 logs well calked with the beaten bark of 

 the white cedar, or with oakum, they are 

 frequently sheathed with large pieces of 

 birch-bark held in place by hand-split laths 

 of cedar, while the curved-eaved roof, in 

 default of shingles, is covered in the same 

 manner. The barns are often thatched 

 with straw ; but the outbuildings frequently 

 present a greater appearance of thrift than 

 the houses. One picturesque outbuilding 

 always catches the eye, the oven. That 

 altar of weekly burnt-offering which was 

 the glory of the New England kitchen, is 

 here set up out-of-doors, as if to give it 

 the sanctity of isolation. On a substruc- 

 ture of logs the oven is built of stones 

 plastered over with clay ; over all, if the 

 family can afford it, is a pent-roof of 

 boards. 



4 8 



